Teaching Physics to Medical Students

Abstract

At the Annual Conference of Teachers of Clinical Radiology1 sponsored by the College of Radiology, a symposium on the teaching of physics was presented, a summary of which will be published elsewhere.2 The need of a knowledge of physics has recently become more acute and more obvious. The medical profession is swarming into the field of nuclear energy opened by the physicists. The latter have been extremely co-operative, but that is not enough. The doctors must now learn physics. The situation is something like that incident to the development of biochemistry as a branch of medicine, but greatly telescoped. Radioisotopes are available in adequate quantities and we must hurry to learn to use them. For therapy, only p32 and I131 have proved themselves so far, but the field of tracer technics (diagnosis and research) is wide open. Dr. Andrew Dowdy quoted from a report that he and Dr. Stafford Warren prepared for the American Medical Association, the following objectives: 1. So to train our medical scientists that they will be capable of competition, medically, socially and as world citizens, in the age of nuclear energy. 2. Basic training in the bio-physical approach to current medical problems, with special emphasis on nuclear energy. 3. Postgraduate training of individuals in the highly specialized fields of radiology, biophysics, industrial medicine, and health physics. 4. To build a reserve pool of scientifically trained personnel whose special talents may be utilized in the case of a national emergency. 5. In some instances, to facilitate the training of personnel from the armed services.” He concluded that future medical students would have to have a broad basic training in the fundamentals of atomic structure, nuclear structure, radioactivity, and isotope technic. They must know something of chemical versus radiation toxicity of various unusual materials, particularly those that are used in the pile. They must become acquainted with Geiger counters, mass spectrographs, electron microscopes, ultraviolet and infra-red spectroscopy, etc. “This means there is going to have to be some alteration of our medical school curriculum. It even starts in our elementary schools. The present low salaries paid to elementary school and college teachers are not conducive to the best development of the young minds. If the trend continues (salaries so low as to fail to attract able teachers into elementary schools and colleges) we will be receiving medical students who are mentally emasculated.” The teaching of physics ought to start early and there is no sense in delaying the introduction of atomic physics. It need not be more difficult—and can easily be more exciting—than mechanics. There was a difference of opinion among the participants in the Symposium as to whether premedical students ought to take a course in engineering physics and study mathematics through calculus.